Rancho Bernardo's Grabill hits stride in prelims

Molly Grabill looked like she was in a hurry during the 3,200-meter run at the San Diego Section track prelims Saturday at Mt. Carmel High, and for good reason.

Not only was she hoping to make a statement with her time, she needed to hustle to get home in time to change before attending the Rancho Bernardo senior prom.

Grabill was probably the belle of the ball after she looked like her old self in capturing the Division I 3,200 in 10:32.32 as well as finishing third and qualifying in the 1,600 at 4:59.52.

There was some question about her health the last few weeks as she suffered setbacks to Torrey Pines’ Alli Billmeyer in both distance races. Since Grabill’s cross country season lasted until March as she trained for the World Juniors in Spain, it figured it might take her a while to get back to her prime in track.

“I’m really starting to feel good,” said Grabill, who will attend Oregon. “For a while I was hitting my times in practice but my legs felt heavy. Not any more. I’m really looking forward to racing Alli next week and then we’ll see what we’re going to do.”

Grabill ran after learning first thing in the morning that her distance coach, Terry Dockery, was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack the afternoon before. She spoke with Dockery on the phone and though the coach could not attend the prelims at Mt. Carmel, she was relieved that he sounded OK.

What Grabill is really doing is looking ahead to the State Championships where she will defend her 3,200 title against freshman wunderkind Sarah Baxter of Simi Valley, who beat her at Arcadia.

“I like that she’s running well — it motivates me,” said Grabill.

State leader

The way Otay Ranch senior Marquis Roberts celebrated, you knew he couldn’t care less about the wind. He finally got the 50-foot triple jump, the top mark in the state this year under any conditions, as he hit 50-0 exactly on his final jump. It is not eligible for a record because he was pushed by a 2.3-meter-per-second wind — barely over the 2.0 allowable.

“The human body can’t tell the difference between 2.0 and 2.3,” said Roberts, who is hoping to draw some looks from the University of Arizona. “I’ve been so close to 50 all year. Now I’m looking for 51 feet next week and 52 the week after that.

“I’m very excited and am looking for the section record (52 feet by RBV’s Von Ware in 1994).”

No. 7 all-time

It had been way too long, since the Arcadia Invitational, that Scripps Ranch’s Shyan Vaziri had lowered his 800-meter time. So he blistered the final lap and moved to No. 3 in the state this spring with a best of 1:51.62. That’s seventh on the San Diego Section’s all-time list.

Vaziri blistered the middle 200 of the final 400 and then cruised in.

“Now I want 1:50,” he said with a smile.

Section bests

Tyrone Sauls hit 58-2½ in the boys shot to take the section lead this season.

“My goal is 60 feet,” said Sauls, who will head to the Air Force Academy in June where he hopes to play football and compete in track. “Football is still my favorite (he’ll play fullback at AFA), but I like the shot and want 60 before I graduate.”

Other section bests this spring were logged by RB’s Jared Pickering in the 100 at 10.63, El Camino’s Jazmine Gibbs in the girls 100 at 12.05, Carlsbad’s Breana Jemison in the shot at 45-4½ and Mt. Carmel’s girls in the 4x400 relay at 3:58.10.

McClure, who went 49 feet, 3½ inches at this facility, suffered a knee injury toward the end of the year and never recovered. As for the Broncos boys, they went 41.67 seconds, but at the Palomar League finals they passed out of their zone and were disqualified.

Bad luck

West Hills’ Alexa Evans can’t seem to buy a break. As one of the state’s best discus throwers, she has been in four major meets where there has been almost no wind. It happened again when the Division II girls drew the early start Saturday, throwing at 10 a.m. when it was calm.

The schedule last year would have had her throwing at 2:30 p.m. when there are perfect conditions.